Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Microsoft says its first tablet computer, the Surface , will start at $499 when it goes on sale October 26.

The price matches that of Apple Inc.'s iPad , the most popular tablet computer, but the base model of the Surface has twice as much storage memory: 32 gigabytes.

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The launch of the Surface is an unusual move for Microsoft, which usually sells software to computer makers instead of making computers itself. It coincides with the launch of Windows 8, a version of the operating system that's designed to work better on touch-screen computers and tablets.